Maj generals Kick up a row at show

By Tanushree Bhatia | Updated: Aug 5, 2014, 02.25 AM IST

A public showdown between two major generals at a movie screening in the Army Cantonment at Shahibaug left defence personnel with a lot to kick around. Armymen and their families — who had gathered with great excitement at Walker Hall to watch a screening of Salman Khan-starrer Kick — had to return home disappointed when a spat over seniority between Major General Dilawar Singh, additional director general of NCC, and Major General S S Hasabnis, General Officer Commanding of 11th Infantry Division, led the movie to be cancelled. The incident occurred around 8 pm on Sunday.

“Major General Singh informed the staff at Walker Hall that he would arrive with his wife to watch the movie. The 300-seater hall was full when the Singhs reached the hall. The couple sat in the front row where seats for the General Officer Commanding (GOC) are reserved. Ten minutes later, Major General Hasabnis walked up to Singh and asked him to vacate the seat in front of everyone in the hall. When Singh refused, Hasabnis asked the staff to cancel the show. Soon, a slide flashed on screen, stating that the movie cannot be shown due to ‘technical error’. Everyone went home disappointed,” said a reliable source.

Within minutes, a message narrating the incident went viral. It stated, “ADG… rank of Major General sat down on GOC’s seat, the only seat available at movie hall for general rank officers. For 8 pm show. Requsted to vacate as expected he declined. The movie was not run. On instructions of GOC Ahmedabad div. What a shame and immaturity on behalf of GOC Ahmedabad division. All jawans, families, and officers and their families in full view seeing the drama. Shame! (sic)” WHO’S CLUB PATRON? The incident was provoked by the ongoing power struggle between the two major generals. Narrating the sequence of events that culminated in Sunday’s tiff, Ahmedabad Gymkhana President Yunus Sheikh said, “Our club faced an issue with Army and NCC officers transferring out of Ahmedabad station without paying their bills. Our committee asked the 11th Infantry Division to give guarantee of payment through their Golden Qatar mess. They agreed to pay for officers serving the Army and asked us to contact NCC for their officers. When we discussed this issue with Major General Singh, he requested for the by-laws of the club.

One of the rules stated that the seniormost general in the station is appointed as patron of the club. Upon reading this, Singh realised he was senior to Hasabnis, who was be-ing then honoured as the patron, and wrote a letter to the club stating he was the seniormost.” Interestingly, Singh was posted in Ahmedabad about a year and a half ago while Hasabnis was posted here only in December 2013.

ESTABLISHING SENIORITY “After receiving the letter from Singh, we sent a letter to the Core Commander (Jodhpur) to guide us on who was seniormost and who was to be appointed as patron. When we received no response, we requested Singh to justify his seniority. He provided the club with a letter from the Ministry of Defence, confirming his seniority and we appointed him as the patron of our club,” said Sheikh. Dated June 26, 2014, the letter issued by Lieutenant Colonel Ashish Pradhan stated: “It is intimated that Maj Gen Dilawar Singh, 1979 batch, GC officer is senior to Maj Gen S S Hasabnis of 1981 batch of Engrs (GC).” Though the letter put all doubts to rest, the squabble at Walker Hall took place. Mirror learnt that Singh reported Sunday’s incident to Army headquarters in Pune.

On Monday morning, Singh reportedly received a call from Hasabnis apologising for the incident. Repeated attempts to contact Hasabnis were in vain, but Wing Commander Abhishek Matiman accepted that a message had gone viral on Whatsapp. “I had gone for the movie, too. Suddenly, there was a message on the screen stating the movie was being cancelled due to a technical error and we all left. I am looking into the matter.” Asked who the seniormost Army officer is, he confirmed, “Major General Singh is the seniormost officer here.” When contacted, Major General Singh said, “Being the senior officer, I would not like to comment on the conduct of juniors. Whatever the matter is has been reported to higher authority. As a senior, it will always be my endeavour to work with synergy for everyone’s betterment.”